As this project is now starting to move from a dream to hopefully a reality, I figured it needed its own thread here

From late 2007

Quote:

Rebels Close to Home of Their Own

by Stuart Brennan in MEN
30/10/2007

FC UNITED'S bid to build their own stadium has received a major boost from Manchester City Council.

The Rebels, who hope to have their own home within five years, have been commended for their "vision" by the council, which is now trying to find a site for a 5,000-capacity ground.

FC general manager Andy Walsh and board member Adam Brown recently met leader of the council Sir Richard Leese and town hall officers to discuss ways forward for the club formed by dis- affected Manchester United supporters in 2005.

And Sir Richard told the recent conference of Supporters Direct - the government body set up to give football fans a greater say in the running of their clubs - that, "we were really convinced by the vision that FC United set out."

Important

The importance of building their own ground was laid bare at FC's annual meeting at the weekend, when it was revealed that the club lost £40,000 in the last financial year.

Attendances have dropped since the club's inaugural season, despite two successive promotions and the fact that the Rebels are now riding high in the UniBond League's first division north.

But the club now has a hard-core support of around 2,200, and believe they can only start to fulfil their dream of becoming a community club once they get their own ground after three seasons of sharing with Bury.

The ground-share has been a big drain on resources, to the point that some home cup games - like tomorrow night's President's Cup clash with Bamber Bridge - have been switched to Radcliffe Borough's cheaper stadium.

Outlining plans for a new stadium at the club's meeting, Brown said: "Absolutely essential to what we are trying to do is the community approach of this football club.

Access

"We are renting a ground and have access to it only when there is a match on, which means we don't have a base from which to work and that all the income we get is not being re-invested in the club but is going out to other organisations such as Bury Football Club.

"We have a very clear rationale. Any money that comes into the club needs to be reinvested into the club, and we can't fulfil our ambitions of being a community club if we are constantly nomadic."

As to the £40,000 loss, Walsh explained: "In our first year we had a surplus and decided we would employ a club development officer as we needed to show community funders that we were serious.

"We also wanted to set up reserve and youth teams and all of those things cost us £75,000 which, with grant funding, came down to about £60,000.

"A significant part of our outgoings are matchday operating costs which are far in excess of those faced by other clubs at our level because we play at such a large ground and need to employ 40 staff. But we still expect to hit something like break even for the current year."

Quote:

Reds’ Boost in Bid to Find their Own Home

1/11/2007 From The MEN

MANCHESTER City Council has thrown its considerable weight behind FC United’s plans to move from Gigg Lane and find their own permanent home.

Council leader Richard Leese says he shares the club’s vision to provide community facilities within the city and he will help them in their search.

Leese is reported as telling a Supporters Direct meeting in Manchester that the council is ‘really convinced by the vision FC United set out’.

The reds hope to be in their new home within five years but around £5 million to £8 million is needed to turn the dream into reality and the purchase of suitable land is the biggest stumbling block.

The council’s backing is therefore invaluable.

This news and further plans were revealed to members at the club’s annual general meeting at the weekend.

The club’s biggest financial outlay is the rent money they pay to Bury to hire Gigg Lane for matches.

A spokesman for FC said: "We only rent the ground on match days and therefore don’t have a base from which to work and our income is going out to other organisations, such as Bury Football Club. Getting our own ground is essential to the future of the club and it also needs to be part of the community."

Plans showing concept designs of what any new stadium could look like were revealed to members and a development fund has been set up for people to donate towards the dream.

Supporters of FC United have pledged over £30,000 per season to the club’s Development Fund.

Over 300 Reds have now set up standing orders direct to the fund following an appeal at the start of the season.

The Development Fund was set up in 2005 to help FC United achieve its aim of building its own stadium and facilities. In November last year a target of £30,000 a year via monthly standing order contributions was set by the club’s fundraising team. The target was broken ahead of schedule at United’s home game with Rossendale on Saturday 26th January.

It doesn’t stop there. An FC Board member urged United fans to get involved with fundraising wherever possible “the Development Fund is essential to the club’s ambition of owning our own ground, so please do your best to support the club’s fund raising activities and we will turn ambition into bricks and mortar. We still have a long way to go if we’re to do that. Overall we’re on target to get £60-80,000 in the bank this season but we still need the help of every supporter because we need to raise over £500,000”.

The determination of FC fans to see the club in its own ground has seen many events take place; amongst them are after-match parties, raffles, auctions, race nights, over 50 supporters will be taking part in the Manchester 10k run in May to boost funds even further… you name it, FC fans are doing it and all in the name of their own ground!

NEWSFLASH: The Development Fund is pleased to announce, that the Target of £100,000 for the year, Aug 07 - Aug 08 has now been reached. With £41000 already guaranteed for next season via standing orders, that leaves £59000 to raise to match our wonderful target. A great effort by everyone.

MORE than 100 poems are going on sale to try to help find a new home for a grassroots football team.

Blackley poet and author Mike Duff has put pen to paper to create 'Of A Mancunian' - a celebration of forgotten Manchester people and characters from all walks of Mancunian life.

And all profits are going into a fund to finance a Manchester ground for FC United, the breakaway football team which has climbed two divisions since being formed three years ago and is currently fourth in the Unibond League First Division.

Mike - an FC United fan - was asked for the poems by Mark O'Rourke, who is on the club's development team. The individual poems have been written over the past three or four years and most have not been published before.

Home games at the moment are played at Bury FC's Gigg Lane ground, where 'Of a Mancunian' will be launched on 12 April, a day when the club is hoping for a bumper gate as under 16s can watch its game against Lancaster for free.

Mike, who has previously written stuff for The Reds' United We Stand and FC United's magazine The Soul is One, said: "I'm sick of the attitude of professional football players, the way they treat the fans and the celebrity culture around them.

"At FC United it is about making friends, not millionaires. It's bringing football back to the people."

The front cover of the book is taken at Harpurhey cemetery by the graveside of Nancy "dickybird" Cunningham, one of Manchester's forgotten characters. Nancy, who died in 1931, spent half her life drunk and was arrested 173 times for being drunk and disorderly.

Mike, 52, who lives on Victoria Avenue, said: "It starts with a poem about Nancy and finishes with what I would like to happen to my ashes when I die. There's also one about a man who was killed on the first day of the Somme, so there's a bit on the history of Manchester too."

The books are being sold at Gigg Lane and Wigan Athletic for £5 and are also available through Mike's website www.mikeduff.co.uk

MIKE is to see his first book turned into a film.

Low Life received critical acclaim when it was released in 2000 and the publicity - including a favourable Guardian review - saw it translated into French and re-released as La Racaille de Rochdale Road.

Now a deal has been signed and sealed to bring Low Life to the small screen. London-based Ruby Films are in the process of making a short film based on Mike's day in the life of a thieving north Manchester scally.

Directing the work will be Adam Smith, who has directed some of the Skins programmes for Channel Four, as well as music videos for Chemical Brothers and The Streets.

Mike, of Victoria Avenue, Blackley, said: "I was first contacted by Ruby Films two years ago but I'm a bit of a cynic, so I thought 'I'll believe it when I see it.'

"The contracts were signed about two months ago and now the screenplay is being written. I'm over the moon about it."

Mike's poem In the Rain, a celebration of Manchester's cultural diversity, won the 2004 Poem for Manchester competition and can be seen on the Manchester Curve bridge, linking Piccadilly Place to the mainline station.

FC UNITED hope to move into their own ground in Manchester in two years’ time.

The Rebels have signed an extension to their ground-share deal with Bury which lasts until 2011 – and by then the Unibond League club is planning to have built its own stadium.

FC narrowly missed out on promotion this season after three successive leaps up the non-league pyramid since their inception in 2005, and also saw a slight increase in their average crowd to 2,152 for the season just ended.

The club has always intended building its own stadium, but the rental of Gigg Lane for around £5,000 a match – which has furnished the Shakers with much-needed revenue.

Said an FC United spokesman: “We have played home games at Gigg Lane for the last four successful seasons and, while we would like to have somewhere closer to the city centre, we are grateful to Bury for the use of the excellent facilities at Gigg Lane.

“Discussions with Manchester City Council about a ground of our own continue to progress positively and the extension to the agreement with Bury will hopefully see the club through to the fulfilment of our plans.”

Bury's Gigg Lane stadium is good but "out on a limb', says club's general manager

By Richard Morris

FC United of Manchester's dream of owning its own ground is inching ever closer as the club's board eyes up a site for a potential new home close to the city centre.

Currently renting Bury Football Club's 12,000 capacity Gigg Lane Stadium for home matches, the Unibond premier league club has to shell out between £5,000 and £6,000 each time it has a home game. That means getting around 1,200 fans through the gate just to break even.

Andy Walsh, general manager of the fan-owned club, said a feasibility study had now been completed on its preferred location, which was chosen from several potential sites of between six and 10 acres.

He would not reveal the exact location but confirmed it is within the city boundary and is owned by Manchester City Council, whose officials have had talks with the club. East Manchester, where Manchester United had its origins in Newton Heath, would seem to be a likely candidate, given the plethora of brownfield sites in the area.

Building its own home would allow FC United to pump revenue back into the club instead of paying out about £80,000 a year on rent. Proximity to Manchester is also a major factor when it comes to increasing gate numbers, according to Walsh.

'Out on a limb'

He said: “It's very important for us and our supporters that we're as close as possible to the city centre. Bury is well served by public transport but it's still out on a limb and some distance from the city centre. A more centrally located stadium would attract bigger numbers.

“We have got until 2011 on our ground share with Bury and we're hopeful that with a fair wind we'll be looking to start 2011, possibly 2012, in a new stadium. We're looking at a £3m to £4m build which will be funded jointly from our own reserves, grant funding and through raised finance.”

The club, which started as a protest against the Glazer family's £800m takeover of Manchester United four years ago, is now registered as a co-operative and is having to raise far more finance than it could possibly have envisaged in its early days.

Walsh said: “There has been a reduction in lending generally but because we're a co-op there are a number of financial institutions keen to lend to community organisations like ourselves.”

He admits securing the necessary grants for the new stadium will be tricky, describing the position of potential funders as “fluid”. He said the club's business plan and the changing priorities of grant-making bodies will be the key to success.

In addition to just being a home for FC United's first team, the club wants the stadium to be a sporting facility for the wider Manchester community. Since its formation in 2005 Walsh said the club has invested in excess of £100,000 in a football in the community scheme and brought in more than that through external funding. He also believes the project could assist with regeneration, acting as “a catalyst for drawing other investment to the city”.

FC United have submitted proposals for their own 4,000-capacity stadium to Manchester council.

Although a final location for the project is yet to be confirmed, the club say they are hoping to complete the planning process before the end of the season.

"We've been working on the business plan for a few months and had meetings with the council before Christmas to talk about our draft proposals," said general manager Andy Walsh.

"The final draft has now been sent in, and we hope to make an announcement about when work will begin in the next few months." Walsh estimates that the stadium will cost around £3-4m to build, and says that funding for the project will come from several sources.

"We'll be using our own resources as well as some grant funding to help us.

"Obviously, it's not the best time financially to be asking for funding, but we're in discussions at the moment."

FC are also keen to ensure that the stadium will be available for other uses as well being as their home ground.

"This is not just for FC United and it's important that the ground is used as a community facility," said Walsh.

"We will consult with local residents, as well as all of our club members, about things such as the name of the ground because we want their input." The Rebels currently play their home fixtures at Bury's Gigg Lane, and have also used Stainton Park in Radcliffe and Altrincham's Moss Lane ground since their formation in 2005.

However, it now appears that they will have their own place to call home in the near future - news that will be warmly received by fans as the club aim to continue climbing the non-league ladder towards the Football League.

The club's determination to own their own ground has received the backing of Sir Richard Leese, leader of the city council, and Walsh believes his support could be crucial.

"He says he wants FC United to stay within the city boundaries, which is good, so now it's down to us," said an optimistic Walsh.

"There's still work to be done before the final plan goes before the councillors, but we're as confident as we can be about it at this stage."

The rebel football club FC United of Manchester has been urged to build its planned new stadium in Newton Heath.

The club is hoping to unveil plans for a 4,000-seater ground within the next few months and Newton Heath – the area which spawned Manchester United – is seen by some fans as the romantic option.

Formed by breakaway Manchester United fans, in protest to the Glazers’ takeover of the Old Trafford club in 2005, the Red Rebels are currently ground-sharing Bury FC’s Gigg Lane stadium.

However, despite attracting average crowds of more than 2,000 per match, the financial burden of using the Bury ground has forced FC United to pursue its dream of finding its own hallowed turf with earnest.

The club is currently in talks with Manchester Council over a number of potential sites but councillor John Flanagan believes the club shouldn’t look any further than Newton Heath.

"We would certainly welcome FC United putting a stadium in Newton Heath," he said. "I know they have been looking at where United used to play when they were in Newton Heath and it would be good to bring that land back into use.

"FC United have a record of working with schools and the local community and that is the sort of club we would want here."

He added: "It would be good news, not just for the community, but the local economy.

"There is a lot of investment coming into the area. If the stadium is built it will be on a brownfield site and will bring that back into use.

"A lot of things have been clicking into place in Newton Heath in the last year and if FC United can fit into that jigsaw it’ll be fantastic. The club has the potential to grow and grow and it’ll will no doubt bring some jobs to the area."

The club itself is playing its cards close to its chest over the sites being considered. Officials say the new ground will include community facilities and that they are is optimistic an announcement is close.

FC United general manager Andy Walsh said: "We’re at quite an advanced stage. We are in discussions with the council and looking at a few sites but can’t be any more specific than that. We want to find a site that is best for the city, for ourselves and residents."

He added: "We are not at liberty to say yeah or neah over any sites. It is a matter of record that we are talking to the council but with the economic climate the feasibility of certain sites drop in and drop out.

"We’re hoping in the next few months that with the council that we can make an announcement."

A council spokesman said: "It is the council’s policy not to comment on any pre-application discussions."

FC United of Manchester has announced plans to develop a football ground in Newton Heath, Manchester - the birthplace of Manchester United.

The supporter-owned club, established when the Glazer family took over Manchester United in May 2005, is proposing to include new and renovated community sports facilities and a multi-function community space at the 5,000-capacity stadium.

The club wants to provide state of the art facilities that will create new investment in the area and opportunities for local people in sports participation and physical activity, youth inclusion, education, health, employment and a range of other services.

The site for the development is the existing Ten Acres Lane sports centre, which is owned by Manchester City Council.

FC United, New East Manchester and Manchester City Council have been working closely over the past two years to develop the plans and consultation will now progress with local residents, community groups and FC United members who own the club.

FC United is working to secure the finance for the £3.5m development, which will include a public appeal for donations, a Community Shares issue and grant funding.

Club General Manager Andy Walsh said: “The announcement will be a big boost to the club and we also want the development to be of benefit to Newton Heath, the discussions with the council have been very positive and we are grateful for their support. The significance of this location is historical while it will also showcase a new model of facility development, based on football supporter ownership and community involvement.”

Manchester City Council’s Executive Member for Culture and Leisure, Cllr Mike Amesbury, said: “We have been supportive of this development to date and we are pleased to now take it to the next stage. While there is a way to go yet we feel that this will have significant local community benefits and bring an iconic supporter-owned club to Manchester.”

Eddie Smith, chief executive of urban regeneration company New East Manchester said: "We are working closely with FC United to help achieve their aspirations of acquiring land in Newton Heath for a new football ground. This is still very early stages but we are supportive of their proposals which would bring further regeneration benefits to east Manchester."

FC United hopes the development will be completed in the next two to three years, subject to consultation, funding and planning.

Nearby traders say they will be hit hard following an announcement that semi-professional side, FC United of Manchester, plan to build a stadium of their own in Newton Heath in the next two or three years.

Since the club formed in July 2005, it has played most home games at Gigg Lane, regularly attracting more than 2,000 supporters.

Neighbouring businesses have since experienced a hike in trade and some are already concerned about what will happen when FC United go.

“Things are already bad enough in this economic climate as it is and this something else for us to contend with,” said Jenny Osbourne, barmaid at the Swan and Cemetery pub in Manchester Road.

She added: “When FC first started up, we were packed out every home game and we still get quite a few in.

“At least we have a few more years to enjoy.”

Albert Pugh, licensee of the Staff of Life pub in Manchester Road, said: “They are an absolutely wonderful set of fans and we enjoy having them here every week.

“I have never had one ounce of trouble from their fans and I have made some very good friends. It will have a massive effect on our trade when they go. It will hit our takings hard.”

Bosses of neighbouring takeaways said they also expected their trade to drop off.

A spokesman for Ziady's burger bar in Parkhills Road said they were particular busy for evening games when supporters grab a pizza or a burger after work and before the match.

Margaret Freeman, licensee at the Waterloo pub in Manchester Road, added: “At the moment it is good because you have Bury playing one Saturday and FC United playing another. Any fall in custom is bad.”

FC United of Manchester has taken the next step towards establishing a permanent home in Newton Heath.

The club has appointed a design team to take the proposed ground and community sports development at Ten Acres Lane to planning stage.

The design team is headed up by project managers Frank Whittle Partnerships, planning consultant Kath Ludlam and architects Taylor Young.

The design team has been assembled following a competitive tender process overseen by a sub-committee of the club’s elected board members and general manager Andy Walsh.

Frank Whittle Partnership will oversee the project from start to finish, FWP have a wide range of previous relevant experience and an understanding for what FC United is seeking to achieve in the development of the community facility.

FWP’s role will include: ensuring progress is made, on time and on budget; leading the appointments of further professionals and consultants; with regular reporting to the project board and the main FC United board.

Also in place is experienced planning consultant Kath Ludlam, Kath’s role includes:
• Overseeing and delivering the planning application
• Managing the local consultation with residents and community groups
• Working with a range of other professionals
• Researching and producing a series of reports/documents: from the environmental impact of the development to traffic and transport

Finally, Taylor Young have been appointed as architects. Taylor Young are one of Manchester’s longest established firms with a wealth of experience their function is to provide a ground design following consultation with FC United members and Newton Heath residents. The process will be in two stages – firstly the planning application, and then the more detailed work with the yet to be appointed building contractors. The club has targeted the end of August to submit a full planning application.

Andy Walsh said: “We have taken a lot of advice and are satisfied that these appointments mean we now have the necessary expertise in place as we move through the consultation and planning processes to help make the ground development a reality.

“It is important to us that local residents and our club members have a direct input to the design process. We have already got draft timelines in place and while futire activity will depend on a successful planning application and our ability to raise the necessary funding, this is another exciting stage of the project development.

“The design team appointments are significant steps forward in ensuring our ground is developed and delivered in the correct way and on budget.”

The costs for each appointment were factored into the overall cost for the ground at the beginning of the planning process.

Frank Whittle Partners also successfully bid for the role of quantity surveyor, additional members of the design team include:

Sunday 27th June, that crucial day for the England football team, nevertheless saw more than 1,000 local residents visiting FC United’s Family Fun Day on the proposed site for the club’s new community sports stadium in Newton Heath, Manchester.

FCUM radio was on hand to deliver an eclectic musical mix to the crowds and deal with requests. At the rear of the sports hall a free kids’ commando course was set up and was soon full of young lads and girls keeping fit and tackling the course.

Alongside this was an inflatable football arena where a mini world cup was in session staffed by FC United coaches and volunteers.

One resident made it clear what they thought of the event and club’s arrival in the area:

“Everybody in Newton Heath will be up for it and all the areas around. Build the ground and they will come, I know they will come. Today has been top, a belting day.

"England is playing in the World Cup yet still loads turned out for this. People have such a love of this area – this was where Manchester United was born. Like salmon swim upstream, you always return to where you were born.”

A variety of stalls reflecting the club’s community ethos and a mini fun fair greeted visitors. An FC United healthy eating stall was kept busy preparing and giving out fruit kebabs, smoothies and other wholesome goodies

Two separate seven-a-side football tournaments took place on the all weather pitches. A girl’s tournament and a 16 to 19-year-olds lad’s tournament. Amongst the teams represented were two teams from Oldham Athletic, FC Manchester, Denton Girls, North West United, Miles Platting, the Outcasts and Barnardos. The girl’s tournament was won by FC Manchester and the lads’ tournament by the Outcasts. All received medals and cups.

Andy Walsh, General Manager of FC United reflected: “The day was a great success. We had well over a thousand attend the event and enjoyed the sunshine, activities and community stalls.

"We spoke to numerous residents who are looking forward to the redevelopment of the Ten Acre Lane site and presenting their ideas re the development."

This was also another step in the consultation process towards the redevelopment of the site into FC United’s new community stadium. Inside the hall by far the busiest area was around the display stands with the plans for the new stadium manned by FC United board members, architects, planners and consultants. This was constantly crowded with both local residents and FC fans wanting to see and discuss the stadium plans.

Local residents expressed how much FC United arriving in Newton Heath would mean for the area:

“It’s going to be good for the community. The estate where you want to build the stadium has had little input from anyone for the last 30 years, so it’s fantastic that this day is going on. Some people that I work with are running a girls group and one of your representatives has been working with them so I think it’s very good. Bring it on.”

“It’s going to be for the community and Newton Heath has needed something like this for a long time, a very long time.”

“This could kick-start a new era for Newton Heath. It’s been a great day and the plans look brilliant.”

Other organisations with stalls attended included The Co-operative Group who, along with Zest Healthy Living network, donated fair trade fruit, tea bags and coffee to the day, Peoples Voice Media and Manchester Credit Union.

The sun might not have shone on the England football team on this particular day but it shone on FC United and the people of Newton Heath.

As Ferris Bueller said, life moves pretty fast. It does for FC United of Manchester anyway. Still only five years old, it was only in July that we learnt the club had appointed a design team ahead of a planning application by early September. As general manager Andy Walsh wryly says: “There’s a lot of pressure.”

Planning consultancy Ludlam Associates, assisted by a team including architect Traylor Young and project manager Frank Whittle Partnership will submit an application to build a 5,000-capacity ground at Ten Acres Lane in Newton Heath, the birthplace of Manchester United.

The site (6.3 acres rather than ten) currently houses an indoor sports centre and an all-weather football pitch. It’s still well-used by a local community that is being genuinely listened to over FC’s plans – doors have been knocked on at the 150-plus houses closest to the site, there has been a drop-in session and a family fun day and dialogue is ongoing..

It’s a sight more proactive than most consultations, which are often just box-ticking exercises. The sports centre will remain and be enhanced with new facilities, with more community activities added in. The trees bordering the site will remain as a natural green barrier.

“The main concern people have is over parking, which is understandable,” says Walsh. There is some parking onsite, while highway consultant AECOM is looking at offsite parking. Oldham Road’s “quality bus corridor” (stop laughing at the back) and the new Metrolink stop at Central Park are less than a kilometre away.

Ideally, FC would be in place for the start of the 2011-12 season, but a lot remains to be done. Grants could cover £1.5m of the estimated £3.5m cost, leaving FC to find £2m. The hope is to raise much of £1.5m (although there is provision for bank borrowing) through a community share scheme – an offer document will be issued in the next few weeks – while the club’s development fund will be required to raise £500,000 cash upfront. So far the total stands at £280,000.

Noises from Manchester City Council seem encouraging. “At the moment, the council have to keep investing in the site. We represent an opportunity to enhance it, improve its usability and help the community help itself. Our community schemes do a lot already, but we’ll be able to do even more.”

To see the work in action, we leap into Walsh’s car for the short hop from Ten Acres to Orford Park, where first team manager Karl Marginson, rounders bat and balls of all sizes at hand, is putting kids through their paces. You can’t help but be impressed.

It’s a big ask but there is a no-nonsense nous at FC – board member Scott Fletcher, the ANS Group founder and passionate advocate of entrepreneurial spirit, typifies its approach. And in a world where Yaya Toure’s being given £200,000 a week you’d like to think this can work, for the sake of our sanity if nothing else.

A co-operative football club will this month launch a £1.5m community share issue in its bid to build a new stadium.

FC United of Manchester was created in 2005 by thousands of disenchanted Manchester United fans who felt alienated and priced out of Premiership football.

It is now looking to raise the cash to build a community stadium at Ten Acres Lane, Newton Heath, which is expected to cost £3.5m.

FC United is one of only ten community share projects supported by Co-operatives UK and the government through its Community Share Scheme. The scheme aims to help raise finance from communities to support expansion and development and is an alternative to bank borrowing.

The club is working to ensure that the shares are eligible for the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) tax relief, allowing investors to offset up to 20 per cent of any purchase over £500 against income tax liability. Find out more about EIS here or, for subscribers, here.

Only club members, who pay an annual membership fee of £12, will be able to buy community shares. Members have a say in the running of the club and no additional voting rights come with the shares.

On the map above, he has marked a cross roughly where the old Phillips Park train station was. You can see on the map below that the line still exists. Whether or not it is still in use I don't know. The Park Station closed about 15 years ago. To the north of the site runs the new Oldham/Rochdale Metrolink line.

This image below just helps to show what the land use is currently like in the locality:

This is Ten Acres Lane, on the right is the proposed site, 5 minutes walk straight ahead and you are at Central Park Tram Stop, more on that further down

This is the back of the site

And this is the existing Sport Centre, which will be refurbished and retained by FC, operated for community use

This is the present Astroturf pitch which can be found on the site, it’s seen better days

On the map above, he has marked a cross roughly where the old Phillips Park train station was. You can see on the map below that the line still exists. Whether or not it is still in use I don't know.

Hi TheGrand, the line is certainly still used. It's the line between Ashton Under Lyne and Victoria. Crappy DMU's can be seen every 30 mins or so. They really have to slow down around that area as there are a number of points to cross in order to enter the main drag into Victoria.